Moto GP – Qualifying Result – Philip Island 2014

Snapshot: It was, as usual, was an electrifying affair and the light rain could not do any harm to the proceedings

It was, as usual, was an electrifying affair and the light rain could not do any harm to the proceedings. Equalling the great Casey Stoner’s 12 poles in a season record, Marquez has taken a dominant pole position following an action packed Moto GP Qualifying session at Phillip Island, the Spaniard was in supreme form in qualifying. His time of 1:28.408 put him two and a half tenths clear of Cal Crutchlow who caused a shock to take his Ducati to the front row. Jorge Lorenzo topped the time sheets midway through the session but would have to be satisfied with taking the final spot on the front row in third. Phillip Island lived up to it's volatile reputation as all riders put on an impressive display early in the session, full commitment on display despite light rain that fell at the end of Q1.

Briton Bradley Smith will head up row two for Sunday's race after taking his Tech 3 Yamaha to fourth place, he edged out Dani Pedrosa who had managed to go comfortably through the preceding Q1 session. Aleix Espargaro claimed sixth spot and rounded out the second row. FP4 pace-setter Andrea Iannone could only manage the seventh quickest time but still managed to finish ahead of his countryman Valentino Rossi and Pol Espargaro who completed row three.

In the Q1 session earlier the production Hondas of Hiroshi Aoyama, Nicky Hayden and Scott Redding battled it out for the final Q2 slot. Light rain began to fall in the closing stages and was enough to force the riders into their pit garages and meant that Hiroshi Aoyama qualified for Q2 for the first time in his career. Riders that were caught out badly by the conditions were Alvaro Bautista in 17th, Yonny Hernandez in 18th and Alex DeAngelis in 23rd position.